The potential of amorphous solid dispersions to improve the solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs is well known. However, the number of formulations that have made it through to the market is limited because of the unstable nature of the amorphous form, which often results in recrystallization of the drug with the subsequent loss of the solubility and dissolution advantages. Thus, ensuring the stability constitutes a major challenge in the development of amorphous solid dispersions.

Background

Solid dispersions are an intensively investigated enabling technology to formulate poorly soluble drugs. Many contributions already studied their higher solubility and resulting dissolution rate as well as the challenges at the level of physical stability due to their high intrinsic energy. Whereas the vast majority of these studies focus on the bulk characteristics of the samples, we are convinced that the (often distinct) properties of the sample surface should not be overlooked.